Winter, Seasons, Cycles
Last month, the California floods coinciding with the turn of a new year had me thinking a lot about seasons, cycles, endings and beginnings. We make a lot of fuss over the end of one year and the beginning of the next. But in nature, there are only cycles. Seasons, days, years, lifetimes -- every transition in nature is just that: a transition. Even death, in nature’s eyes, ultimately leads to new life, and the cycle continues.
Through those cycles, there are shifts and patterns, but there are also certain unwavering constants. Water will always flow down stream. The sun, for as long as we can imagine, will always rise and set. After the Winter solstice, the days will inevitably grow longer, minute by minute, until Spring arrives in all her glory.
Here in coastal California where we don't see much snow, our seasons are defined by rainfall. When our landscapes turn brown and brittle in the summer, we pray that soon winter will bring us an abundance of water to quench our collective thirst. And sure enough, year after year, the first rain of the season comes and we feel a jolt of relief as the cycles of nature comfort us once again.
This year's rains were a deluge that many California homes (including mine) and even some trees and creeks couldn’t handle. One creation story of the Ohlone people (whose land I sit on as I type this from my office) begins with a great flood. Perhaps it was nature’s poetry to bring nearly all of California into flood watch at the birth of a new Gregorian calendar year. Mother Nature has her own plans, and her own timeline. We are merely stewards of this land.
As I pumped and mopped my way out of our own home’s flood while clocks around the world ticked their way from 2022 into 2023, I ruminated. A flood is expected to be catastrophic, but this felt like abundance rushing in. An abundance of life-giving and earth-altering water just came rushing into my living room; that’s got to be good luck, right?
Watery Design Inspiration
If you’ve been following along for a bit, you’ve likely noticed that water serves as a frequent source of inspiration for my design work - across all seasons.
For this guest bathroom remodel, I was inspired by the colors of the Caribbean Sea on a recent vacation. We sourced a beautiful, handmade Moroccan zellige tile to bring that watery feeling into the space:
Above: my vacation photo that served as the original inspiration, and our final design board with selected materials. We shared a reel of the making of the design board here!
Here is the bathroom before we got our hands on it, complete with gross linoleum floor and leaky plumbing fixtures…
And here is how it turned out!
A tremendous upgrade with water-wise plumbing fixtures, a beautiful FSC-certified oak vanity, and a serene color palette.
For more project updates and behind-the-scenes, join us over on Instagram!
